AHDB Cattle and Sheep Weekly - 1 August 2016

The upward pressure in the trade again comes from the tighter demand/supply balance, driving robust competition from processors looking to ensure their factories are kept busy. At 29,600 head, AHDB estimates suggest that, while throughputs were just ahead of the week earlier, again they were behind year-earlier levels for the third week in a row. It is likely that the short-term dip in numbers is as a result of cattle being finished off of grass being a little delayed in coming forward for slaughter on the back of the late spring, which resulted in below average grass growth in some parts of the country. The balance in the market suggests that producers with enough in-specification cattle are currently well placed to take advantage of the robustness in the trade.